The Shak'tar: Part II
by Anulis
Summary: Part two of the exciting Shak'tar journey. The team escapes Baal's clutches with help from the Shak'tar and Jack is forced to try and save their new allies from certain destruction...


_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or themes in this story that are affiliated with the television series Stargate Sg-1 or Stargate Atlantis or the movie Stargate. _

Chapter 1 – The Evil Within

Jack lay against the grate glaring at Baal, who was sitting on his throne with a smirk on his face.

"You're actually still using this gravity thing? I don't know about you, but this is getting really old." Jack said scornfully. Baal did not respond, he simply stood and walked over to the table that held the torture devices he had once used on Jack. He took out a double-pronged knife and fiddled with it idly.

"Colonel Jack O'Neill, US Air Force, Earth." Baal jeered. "Two L's." he added mockingly. He twirled the knife around in his hands with his usual arrogant smile now more prominent on his face. "Your symbiote was Kanan of the Tok'ra."

"Look, you might as well skip all the melodrama and send me back to my team, because I'm not gonna tell you squat." Jack said, narrowing his eyes. But Baal only laughed at this statement.

"Don't flatter yourself, Colonel! You're not here for information, if you accidentally reveal something, that is your fault. You are here for my amusement."

"Oh, that's original." Jack remarked sarcastically.

"Why were you on the planet? Was it to steal the weapon we found?"

"Go to hell." Jack said. But he wished he had said nothing when the two blades of he knife hit him just above the hip.

"Ahh!" he gasped in pain again and again as one, two, then three more knives dug their way into his chest and abdomen; he had now taken to ignoring Baal's questions. Jack desperately wished he could reach down and pull the blades out of his side, but his arms were too heavy in the gravity field.

"You think this is painful? Hmm." Baal said quietly, the smile evaporating from his face. "This is nothing compared to what Halia has already suffered. She begged for death before it was over."

"She didn't _beg_ you for anything." Baal raised his eyebrows.

"On the contrary, she pleaded with me not to torture you and your friends." His smirk returned and he stepped back toward the counter. "Perhaps you would like to see what made her speak at last?" He pulled a small, silver object out and held it where Jack could see. It was oval in shape and had twenty or so short, thin barbs sticking out all over it.

"It is called a Doruinn, meaning pain or, anguish. It combines the powers of a Goa'uld hand device and another piece of technology I'm sure you are aware of."

"You really like to hear yourself talk don't you?" Jack whispered. But before he could protest further, Baal had let go of the device. Jack was unaware of his own stifled screaming.

He knew what other piece of Goa'uld technology had been used to make the doruinn, it had to be what Teal'c called a "fire-stick"; a short metal rod with three prongs on the end that made it's victims to glow in the mouth and eyes and caused them severe pain. But in less than a minute the device stopped; it still stuck in his stomach and burned considerably, but it no longer produced the effects of the fire-stick or hand device. Jack felt a surge of hatred toward Baal like none he had ever felt before.

"You son-of-a-bitch," he said through gritted teeth. "How could you do that to her? She's just a kid for gods sake!" Jack knew it was pointless arguing with a Goa'uld about morals, as they had none, but in his fury he didn't care.

"She is a traitor. And that is only the beginning of her misery, you can tell her that for me when you wake." With that, Baal drew another knife off the table and dropped it in a direct path with Jack's heart.

Chapter 2 – Not Quite Armani

When Jack woke up, he was back in the cell with his team standing around him. Jacob and Teal'c pulled him to his feet where he swayed for a moment before gaining his balance.

"Wow, you've been out for a while." Jack stared, eyebrows raised, at Daniel who's appearance had changed drastically. He was wearing a black long sleeved…something…that seemed to melt right into what could only be described as pants.

"Uh, Daniel, what-"

"Cham'ka root, the jaffa came back after they took you and gave us these, um, you're-" he gestured down at Jack, who found that he was also wearing the root. The others were all similarly adorned; the garments made Jacob look unnaturally thin, Teal'c had torn the arms off of his root clothing so that his muscles were even more prominent than usual, but Sam looked rather pretty in an identical dress to Halia's.

"The root grows over you're old clothes and…eats them, for lack of a better word. I just wish they stayed the same shape." Sam remarked, obviously flustered at having to wear the dress. Jack didn't hear, he was busy looking around her; Ronan sat in the corner with a hollow look as well as several bruises on his face.

"Hey, what happened?" Jack asked as he walked over. Ronan didn't so much as look at him, he seemed consumed in his own despair. Selmak answered for him.

"Barely five minutes after the jaffa took you, they returned for Halia. He tried to stop them and was injured." Jack nodded and gestured for everyone to leave, including himself. He knew from experience that what Ronan needed was to be left alone for a while. After he and his team had settled down in the opposite corner, Daniel spoke again.

"So, any ideas on how we're supposed to get out of here?" he asked. Jack shook his head and sighed.

"Teal'c, any chance you can do your 'dead false god' bit and convince one of the jaffa to help us out?" He asked.

"I have made several attempts already O'Neill, all of which have been unsuccessful. These jaffa are extremely loyal to Baal." Teal'c replied.

"Carter?"

"I worked some more on the shield sir, but it's being transmitted from a wall outside the cell, I can't do anything with it." Jack looked at Jacob with raised eyebrows.

"Can we expect any help from the Tok'ra?"

"They will have assumed that we are dead and called back the operative that told us about the weapon." Selmak said.

"There is only one way out of this." Ronan had come over, unnoticed, and was leaning against one of the walls. "We must hope that the Shak'tar will come for us."

"What are the chances of that happening?" Jack asked quite seriously. Ronan sighed heavily and sat down.

"We have saved people in worse situations, but as far as I know, there are no other Shak'tar within Baal's ranks. If we have any hope of escape, we must get a message to someone. And we wont know who that someone is until we know where we are. We could be on any of Baal's home worlds."

"And if we can't get them a message?" Jack asked, not really sure he wanted to know the answer.

"Then we will be lost, casualties of war." He looked darkly at the group. "If we are lucky."

Chapter 3 - Evado

Halia did not return that day, or the next, or the next. But Baal seemed content in torturing Jacob, Teal'c, and Jack all over again. It was late in the day when the jaffa brought Daniel back, and he was still unconscious. When they tried to take Sam, who went gracefully to her fate, Jacob protested and was knocked out by the end of a staff weapon.

"How many times did Baal do that to you at his fortress?" Daniel asked when he had woken.

"I kind of lost count." Jack lied, he tried to talk as little as possible about that experience in general, but especially to Daniel. He preferred to keep his visit from his ascended friend secret. Ronan was in a poor state. Because the jaffa had not brought Halia back, he had taken to jumping at small noises and pacing back and forth in the cell.

"You're gonna wear a hole in the floor." Jack commented as he stared out through the shield waiting for Sam to return.

"Would it not serve us to have a hole in the floor? Then we could escape." He spat, also having become rather irritable. Jack shook his head and looked back to the shield, which had just opened. The group expected to see Sam, but instead, numerous jaffa entered the room. They had their zats trained on the prisoners, who stood up nervously.

"Come." One said importantly. After binding their hands, the group set off through the gold corridors and after many familiar twists and turns entered the room they all feared most.

"Carter, you alright?" Jack said as he was pushed to his knees next to Sam.

"I'll be fine sir." She assured him. It was obvious that she had just woken from the sarcophagus and was still exhausted.

"No… He can't do this!" Ronan whispered. He was staring at the grate where Halia hung with her eyes closed. There were no signs of physical damage, but the captives knew what other damage could have been done.

"Be quiet." One of the jaffa said. Ronan ignored him.

"Halia? Halia!" he called out to her in vain. The girl shook her head in disbelief. She didn't want to believe it either but it was finally happening; this would be the end of their ordeal, but not hers.

"Silence!" The jaffa behind Ronan made to hit him with his staff weapon, but froze.

"Leave him." Baal said as he entered. Two human slaves followed carrying something that had a cloth draped over it. After gently sliding the thing onto the table, the bowed and left, but not before something strange happened. One of the slaves looked at Halia with a sort of gleam in his eyes and after whispering something nodded encouragingly. For a moment, Jack thought it could be one of the Shak'tar, but Ronan seemed as confused as he was.

"Since you have all been…difficult…to surmount, I have decided that new methods are required." He said; a hint of a smile working it's way up his cheek. "Let us begin." Baal walked toward his table and pulled out a doruinn, tossing it in the air and catching it again.

"Leave her alone!" Ronan said, trying to rise. But the jaffa had him by the shoulders and he was powerless to help her. Halia opened her eyes a little but slammed them shut and turned her head away when she saw the doruinn. As it hit her just below the throat, Daniel, Teal'c, and Jacob turned their heads away, but Jack, Sam, and Ronan yelled in protest, each earning a staff end in the back of the neck. The device shut-off after less than a minute and Baal turned back to the group, another in his hand.

"Shall we try once more then?" he held the doruinn up, barely able to hold onto it in the gravity field. "How does the weapon work?" he said looking at Sg-1, then he turned to Ronan. "What are the names of the Shak'tar leaders!"

"Say nothing!" Halia spoke for the first time. Her voice was hoarse but nonetheless sharp. Ronan looked pleadingly up at her, as if begging her to let him speak. If love could ever be torturous, it was then. Baal looked from Ronan to Halia and back.

"Jaffa kree!" He said delightedly. A jaffa dragged Ronan forward and another stood under Halia as Baal turned off the gravity field. She fell into his waiting arms and he carried her over to kneel facing Ronan. She opened her eyes, which were full of painful tears from the doruinn. Baal bent down next to Halia and looked from her eyes that were fixed on Ronan, who was glaring viciously at him, and back.

"You love him don't you?" Baal whispered, he sounded even less human than usual. Without taking her eyes off of Ronan, she whispered a tearful reply.

"More than anything." Baal smiled imitating caring.

"And you do not want to see him die?" Halia shook her head.

"Then tell me, who are the leaders of the Shak'tar resistance?" Halia didn't move, not even to blink her tears away. Baal made a motion to one of the jaffa, who activated his staff and pointed it at Ronan. Halia let out a muffled cry and dropped her head, she knew she couldn't say anything, but how could she just sit by while they killed her love?

"Do you have no soul at all? Leave her alone!" Ronan shouted.

"Perhaps you would like to tell me?" Baal turned and walked toward the object on the table and tore off the cover. Underneath was what Ronan had feared most since the beginning; it was the Goa'uld Anat, to whom Halia was to become a host. His look of hatred dropped off his face and was replaced by one of shear terror. Baal lifted Anat out of her holding tank and walked back toward Halia, the symbiote poised for implantation in his hand.

"Ronan." He looked back toward Halia and shook his head vigorously.

"No…"

"He would have killed us anyway-"

"No,"

"It's not worth all their lives-

"I cannot watch this happen to you!"

"You must." Ronan looked from Baal to Halia and in between, apparently incapable of doing anything other than dropping his chin to his chest and weeping. Halia looked encouragingly at Sg-1, who returned the look.

"You're a fool, and your mind is weak. After you blend with Anat, she will tell me all that I wish to know." Halia looked defiantly back up at him. Anat struggled in Baal's hands and he stroked her somewhat.

"No, my love, no entry-scar for you." He moved his hand around to Halia's face and held Anat in front of her mouth. "This way you will walk among my enemies unnoticed." Halia stared up at Baal and smiled.

"I'm not afraid of you." She said opening her mouth for Anat. Baal answered this by letting go of the struggling Goa'uld. With a painful gasp Halia fell to the floor. Ronan tried to reach out for her, but the jaffa dragged him backwards.

"Jaffa." Baal ordered. The soldiers lifted her lifeless body to the table and laid her down, beneath her eyelids, Jack could see her eyes dancing around frantically. Baal looked down on his mate and her host with no expression on his face. But before he could speak again, a giant crash issued from the hallway. Baal whirled around and stared at the second door to the room.

"Aray kree!" Baal said, motioning for three of the jaffa to remain behind. The other two followed him, staffs raised, out the door into the hall. Sg-1 stood frozen with anticipation, even Ronan had stopped crying to look apprehensively at the door. But it was the door behind them that caught their attention next.

It opened only slightly and through it came a large, silver ball; it was ticking. The last thing Jack saw was a jaffa rushing toward the ball, but then an awful, high-pitched sound filled his ears and he, like all the others, fell to the floor, unconscious.

Chapter 4 - Allies

For a moment, Jack thought he had been taken back to the cell in Baal's Ha'tac. He opened his eyes but could only see darkness. After a moment, he felt hands on his shoulders and jumped a little.

"Do not be afraid Colonel. You are with friends." An unfamiliar voice said.

"Where am I?" Jack asked, blinking persistently.

"You are in a Goa'uld Al'kesh and you are safe." A woman's voice said. The man whose hands rested on Jack's shoulders moved around in front of him and helped him to a sitting position.

"We're sorry we had to use the shock grenade, but it was necessary in helping you escape. Your vision should return momentarily."

"Yeah everything's getting brighter, thanks. Where's my team?"

"We are here O'Neill. Major and General Carter and Daniel Jackson have not yet woken." Teal'cs voice issued from not far away.

"What about-"

"Ronan is here, but Halia…" A third person said needlessly. A Goa'ulds enraged voice resonated throughout the room and a fray could be heard not far from Jack's feet.

"Stop! You don't understand! You must let me go!" Anat shrieked. Jack could just barely see her fighting against two men and a Jaffa he didn't know. "Stop!" she said as one of the men jabbed her in the arm with something. She immediately stopped resisting and hung limp in their arms and the men bound her hands and shoved a gag in her mouth. Jack looked around to see Daniel and Jacob sprawled on the floor. Sam had sat up and was apparently still blind.

"Colonel?" she voiced into the dark.

"It's alright Carter, we're okay. Who are you?" He said, looking back at the two men and the woman standing near him.

"I am Oldrich, and this is Valda and my brother Zdenek. We are Shak'tar." The one in the middle said. He was maybe twenty-five with short blond hair and was the spitting image of his presumably younger brother who stood to his right. He reached down a hand and pulled Jack to his feet.

"Shak'tar? Listen, thanks for getting us out of there. Where are we now?" Jack asked nodding at the jaffa pilot of the Al'kesh.

"We are in orbit above my home planet, Astridoan. It is unoccupied by the Goa'uld, and we can expect a warm welcome." Valda said, she had a deep, gruff accent, but she made up for it with her petite figure.

"Jack, Sam?" Jacob had just awoken; Sam calmed him down and told him where they were, only to repeat the story when Daniel woke up a minute later. Ronan was laying nearby, still passed out and Halia's, or rather Anat's, hands had been bound and she was unconscious on the floor of the cargo hold.

"Oldrich, we have landed." The jaffa piloting the vessel, who bore the mark of Baal stood up and walked toward the group. He pounded a single fist across his chest and bowed his head.

"Tek ma'tek master Teal'c." Teal'c returned his salute with a jaffa handshake and smiled.

"Tek ma'te brother. What is your name?" The jaffa was very young; he looked as though he was barely in his twenties. But then, Jack thought, the 104-year-old Teal'c looked only thirty.

"I am Ren'oc. You have been an inspiration to all of the Shak'tar; it is an honor." He said, addressing all of Sg-1.

"Thanks, uh you said we'd landed?" Ren'oc nodded eagerly and motioned toward the ring platform.

"Colonel, your weapons." Zdenek walked up with everything Sg-1 had brought on the mission; Jack was starting to like these people more and more by the second. After checking to see that Ronan and Halia would be fine, Jack, Sam, Daniel, and Oldrich took the ring transporter.

It took two trips to get the whole group to the surface of the planet. Valda came last carrying a multitude of heavy fur coats and after giving them to the group she led them off on a dirt road towards lights in the distance. The journey was cold and painfully long, but they eventually made it to a small…village, if you could call the circle of several large tents a village. Valda held open the flap of one of the larger tents and the group pushed hastily in and out of the storm.

Inside the tent what could only be described as a party was going on. There was a strangely pleasant and fast music playing and people were feasting, dancing, and passing out, drunk, everywhere. A great cheer went through the tent like a wave when the people saw Sg-1.

"The warriors of the Tau'ri! The Tau'ri are here!"

"The mission was a success!"

"Colonel Jack O'Neill! It is an honor sir!" the people abandoned what they were doing and swarmed the team, shaking their hands and bowing their heads. Two young boys saluted O'Neill and he was only too happy to return it, and Sam's hand was red from having it kissed so many times. At this point, Jack asked Valda if there was somewhere they could go to rest. She nodded, unable to speak loud enough over the noise, and led them to another, emptier tent. The team, still exhausted from their ordeal, laid down on the fur 'beds' and slept (and kel'no'reemed) peacefully at last.

Chapter 5 – A New Hope

Daniel woke up long before the others; he tried to go back to sleep, but the noise pounding its way into his ears made him curious. He rose quietly and walked out of the tent to find himself blasted with sunlight.

"Pleasant morning Dr. Jackson." Valda said as she walked by, a weight of firewood in her hands. "Oh!" she exclaimed, tripping slightly and dropping half her cargo.

"Here…" Daniel said, rushing forward and grabbing the handful of wood. "Uh, pleasant morning." Valda smiled and waved toward the largest tent, outside which they dropped the wood.

"I'm sure there are better things you would like to be doing Dr." she said.

"No, it's alright; I'm glad to help." The two set off back toward the woods and followed a small dirt road to a clearing where men were cutting into tree branches with machete looking tools.

"These are all that is left of my people. Our planet was destroyed in a territorial dispute between two minor Goa'ulds. Those who survived the battle came here using the same stolen Al'kesh that we used to save you." She said, picking up another load of wood. Daniel followed suit and struggled to catch up with her.

"How did you come to join the Shak'tar?" Daniel huffed. Valda smiled and dropped her head slightly.

"Just before Halia was made a host, there was a slave. He was supposed to give you a sign that all would be well." Daniel nodded briskly.

"Yeah, he carried Anat into the room and whispered something to Halia, but I didn't catch it." Valda stopped and turned to him with a smile on her face.

"My older brother, Aryan." Daniel smiled in return, cocking his head somewhat.

"Your brother…"

"We found out at a young age that the Goa'uld are not gods. Our parents told us; they died trying to smuggle us to freedom. We joined the Shak'tar some years later and sabotaged one of Baal's Ha'tac vessels; it was destroyed causing him to lose the battle. I had to flee when one of his jaffa found out that it was us who were to blame."

"Why didn't you both escape?" Daniel asked after picking up some fallen wood.

"Because Aryan was not caught murdering the jaffa that discovered us." Valda said, her expression turning dark. "I was sentenced to death, but the resistance was able to rescue me much as they did you, but Aryan stayed to gather more information. He will be picked up in a month or so, his mission is nearly completed."

"That's great!" Daniel said, seeing that the smile had returned to her face.

"Danny boy!" Jack and the others were standing outside of their tent and he had signaled for Daniel to join them. With a quick farewell to Valda and a stumble as he dropped his wood stack on the pile, he jogged over to Jack, who clapped him on the shoulder in a good morning. He, that is Jack, had been in an overenthusiastically pleasant mood since they had arrived on the planet; such was his happiness to be away from Baal's torture chamber.

"So, what have you been up to?" he said, looking around Daniel at Valda and smiling mischievously. "Making friends?"

"She's married Jack, get your head out of the gutter." Normally, Jack would have taken great offense to this comment, but he was too happy now to care. He just patted Daniel on the back again and laughed. The others were delighted to see him in such a good mood, especially Teal'c and Jacob, who were growing quite tired of Jack's sarcastic comments about Jaffa and Tok'ra practices. Sam, too, was glad of his new disposition; she was greatly disturbed by the empty look that had been on her CO's face in Baal's Ha'tac.

"No! Stop, you can't do this! Stop!" The team whirled around to see Ronan being held by two men and screaming at full volume to be let go. Sg-1 rushed over to inquire as to what was going on. When they got there, though, they didn't need to ask. Zdenek was standing with a staff weapon at the ready-pointed directly at Halia. She was unconscious and being held up Oldrich and another man who held her captive.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Jack said, moving forward toward Oldrich.

"Anat is being put to death." He said, tying Halia's other hand into the rope.

"What for?" Sam asked, stepping forward to stand next to Jack.

"For the deaths of thousands of innocent humans and jaffa. I believe you would call it high crimes against humanity." Jack looked from Zdenek, to Oldrich, to Halia.

"I understand why you'd want Anat dead, but why do you want to kill Halia to?" He said. Oldrich stepped back from Halia and looked at Jack darkly.

"Halia was a great contributor to the resistance, without her help we would have lost many, many operatives. But Anat has been as much of a help to the Goa'uld. She deserves death, do you not agree?"

"Of course we agree Oldrich, but Halia shouldn't have to die for it." Daniel said gesturing to her.

"Halia is already dead." Oldrich said, exasperated. He didn't elaborate until he saw the looks on Sg-1's faces. "Nothing of the host survives." Sam nodded vigorously, understanding. It was all clear; Ronan and the others had only ever seen her father when Selmak was in control…

"Sir, they don't know we can the symbiote out!" she exclaimed. Jacob took his queue and stepped forward, but Selmak spoke first.

"I am Selmak of the Tok'ra." He introduced himself by placing a hand on his chest and inclining his head. He didn't move for a minute and all but Sg-1 stared at him, confused. Anat tried once again to wrestle out of her bonds and they could hear her say something behind her gag.

"And I'm General Jacob Carter from Earth." Jacob said, taking control. Everyone around him widened their eyes in shock. Oldrich stepped forward slowly and looked Jacob up and down.

"We have seen the Goa'uld masquerade as humans before." He said skeptically.

"Oldrich, a few years ago my father, Jacob Carter was dying of cancer. When we met the Tok'ra, they said if he would become a host, the symbiote, Selmak, could cure him. So we did the implantation and my dad's been the liaison between our two worlds ever since."

"I don't understand…" Oldrich said.

"The point is, the host survives. I would know." Jacob said. Then Selmak took over again.

"It may be possible for us to remove Anat without harming Halia." He said.

"You can save her?" Ronan had been released and he limped toward Jacob. But before he could reply, a sound came from the forest. Ren'oc was running at full-speed toward them from the tree line and yelling.

"Kali's fleet! Kali's fleet has come!" Teal'c caught him as he dropped his staff weapon and fell breathlessly to his knees.

"Kali?" Jack asked.

"This planet is closest to the region of space belonging to Kali the Destroyer. She must have seen us exiting hyperspace." Oldrich said, clapping a hand to his forehead.

"Kali is my old mistress, she is allied with Baal. He may well have told her to be on the lookout for us." Zdenek added.

"How many?" Jack said, looking back at Ren'oc.

"Two mother ships…have landed and are…organizing ground troops…and several Al'kesh…are headed…this way." Ren'oc said, gasping for air; he pulled up his chest armor to reveal a staff injury under his arm and grunted in pain.

"How far?" Teal'c asked.

"They will be here within minutes." Teal'c looked up at Jack, who in turn looked at Oldrich. When he did nothing, Jack knew he would have to take control of the situation.

"Where's the gate on this planet?" he asked.

"There is none. We come and go by ship." Oldrich answered, staring off toward the tree line. "But there is a gate on a neighboring planet, it's not far!" he said, his eyes darting to Jack.

"And how many ships do you have…?" Oldrich nodded and turned to Zdenek.

"Zdenek, bevétel egyes férj meg ivadék összes hajóz!" he said in his own language. His brother and several others ran off toward a group of hills and disappeared over them. Oldrich turned back to Sg-1.

"We have one Al'kesh and three cargo ships, they should hold all of us. But where are we to flee too? We have nowhere else to go…" Jack looked around at the large group of people that had formed around them. Men, women, and smatterings of children, both human and jaffa, were all looking at him.

"You can come to Earth." Jack said, looking back at Oldrich. He didn't have time to express his gratitude as a huge explosion hit just behind the tree line. The shock wave knocked Valda and the people who followed her to the ground. She had gone back for the men and jaffa that had been chopping wood. The group got up and continued to sprint back toward the camp, but staff fire was being emitted from the trees and some of the runners fell to the blasts.

"Oldrich!" Zdenek had returned alone, wheezing. "The ships are coming, but it will take a few minutes…" Jack looked at the ground and then at the group that was still coming from the woods.

"Daniel, Sam, Teal'c…" Teal'c laid Ren'oc gently on the ground and took up his staff weapon. Jack and Sam readied there P-90's and Daniel pulled out two zats.

"We too shall fight!" Oldrich said, picking up Ren'ocs staff weapon. Several of the jaffa and human men stepped forward, weapons in hand; even two women grabbed staff weapons and joined the party.

"Right," Jack said, counting them mentally, "Jacob, take these people behind those hills and wait for the ships. If you can make it safely, come and ring us up, but if not…don't wait for us." Jacob nodded, and after a penetrating look at Sam, he started to lead the rest of the Shak'tar away.

"Sam?" Jack said, "Can you do this?" She nodded and gripped her P-90.

"Yes sir."

"Alright, listen up!" He said addressing the group, "We only have to hold them off for a few minutes, so keep your heads down and aim low so you don't hit any of ours. When the ships get here, get into small groups so you'll fit in the rings, but stay low. Got it?" A general murmur of assent answered him. "Then let's go!"

The group ran forward to cover Valda and the others, who were getting close. Their shots fell on Kali's jaffa, who had come out of the woods and were now in full pursuit of the runners. Jack landed heavily behind a small rise in the ground and he began to shoot furiously over it. Ronan landed beside him. The two took a moment to look at each other, Jack was surprised at how young he looked, and then turned back to firing on the jaffa.

"Valda!" Daniel cried out as the woman was hit in the back with a staff blast and fell gracefully forward. Without thinking, he jumped up and ran out toward her, shooting at Kali's troops as he went. He was able to grab her by the arms and drag her back behind the rise. After checking to see that she was not injured too badly, he handed her a zat and the two continued to fight.

"Colonel!" Ronan shouted over the sound, "What about Halia!" Jack looked back at the camp, where Anat still struggled against her bonds.

"Would Kali give her back to Baal?" He asked Zdenek, who was on his other side.

"Not likely, she would have more to gain by keeping her and torturing her for information." He said, "Look out!" Zdenek grabbed the man on his right and pulled him down just as a staff blast zoomed over his head.

"Stay here!" Jack ordered, knowing that Ronan would want to come. He crawled military style for the short distance to the camp and then ran over to Anat, who glared at him angrily, reminding him very much of Klorel in Skaara's body.

"Listen, I'm gonna cut you a deal. If you come with us willingly, and leave Halia's body, we'll send you to any planet you want." Anat tried to say something, pointing out that she was still gagged. Jack reached up and pulled the gag out gently, her eyes glowed for a moment and she spoke.

"Colonel, please listen to me. I am not Anat. My name is Thalassa, I am Tok'ra."

Chapter 6 – Alter Evado

Jack stared at her for a moment, drop-jawed.

"What?"

"There is no time to explain now, look." She nodded toward the forest, where the Al'kesh were coming over the horizon. "In the meantime, I accept the first half of your deal. Selmak will know me, and when we rejoin him, I will explain everything." Jack looked at her suspiciously.

"You are just going to have to trust me Colonel." In any other situation, Jack would have demanded to speak to Halia, but he had little time. He pulled out his field knife and cut the ropes binding her. Thalassa rubbed her hands for a moment and Jack gestured for her to go first. He still had his P-90 traced on her so she did not object. As they landed against the rise, Zdenek shouted and pointed at the sky above them.

"The ships!"

"Get into small groups! Jack said. Thalassa reached out and grabbed Ronan, pulling him closer to them just seconds before the rings dropped down and lifted them into the single Al'kesh.

"Move! We've got another group coming!" Jacob shouted from the peltac; he was piloting the vessel. Ronan, Thalassa, Jack, and Zdenek rolled out of the way and Jacob pressed the button for the rings again. Jack reached out and pulled Sam off the ring platform. Similarly, Teal'c pulled Ren'oc away from the rings and over to a corner.

"Ronan, hold onto her!" Jack said. Ronan grabbed Thalassa by the arms to keep her from going anywhere; she did not protest. After Jacob brought two more groups onto the ship, including the one consisting of Daniel, Valda, and Oldrich, Jack ran to the peltac and settled into the gunner's position.

"Teal'c!" Jacob jumped out of the pilot's seat and Teal'c took his place. He and Jack took out the remaining ground forces, the two were a spectacular team, and then scanned the surface to make sure no one had been left behind.

"Put these coordinates into the computer, we have to get a hyperspace window activated before the mother ships get off the ground!" Oldrich said, handing Teal'c a crystal, which he jammed into the panel of the ship. The Al'kesh shook and was very suddenly in hyperspace.

"Did anyone follow us through the window?" Jack asked. Oldrich was fiddling with Jack's control station.

"No," he said finally, "There's only us and the three cargo ships. And they are all reporting no casualties and only a few wounded. But they might track us while we're in hyperspace and follow us when they discover our destination coordinates."

"How long until we get to that gate-planet?"

"Not long. I will take us, see to the wounded." Oldrich said taking the pilot's seat. Teal'c and Jack ran to the cargo bay and surveyed the group they had rescued. There were at least fifty people on the ship with them. After separating the unwounded and sending them out of the room, there were only a few left.

Zdenek was handling the nine men that had been injured while fleeing the forest, Sam had been shot in the leg and was being fussed over by Jacob, and Daniel was putting a bandage around Valda's wound. Teal'c walked off toward Ren'oc, who was beginning to breath normally again. Jack headed over to where Jacob was patching Sam's leg up.

"How is it Carter?" He asked.

"It's fine sir." She said.

"It is not fine." Selmak said exasperatedly. His tone was that of an over-concerned father and it made Sam and Jack smile broadly.

"It's not funny, Selmak has just as much right to be concerned as I do!" Jacob said. Jack and Sam gave each other a look and didn't stop smiling to see a Tok'ra so worried about a human other than his host. But then, Sam thought, Selmak and her father shared emotions, so it was natural for him to feel as much her father as Jacob did.

"I hate to bother you guys Jacob, but we need Selmak over here."

"As soon as I'm finished-," Sam, though grateful for his concern, said she would finish tying the bandage, and after a little coaxing, Jacob headed off with Jack.

"She hasn't spoken." Ronan said deadly as they came over.

"I was waiting for the right person to speak to." Thalassa said. Jacob dropped his head and Selmak took control.

"I am Selmak of the Tok'ra. What do you want from me?"

"I know well who you are Selmak, I too am of the Tok'ra."

"Who are you?" Selmak asked.

"I am Thalassa, high councilor of the Tok'ra." Selmak widened his eyes and stepped back a bit. "Tell me, how is Dathan?" She asked, but it was more of a statement than a question, and it affirmed Selmak's suspicions.

"Release her." Selmak said. Ronan hesitated, but Jack nodded and he let go. Thalassa stepped forward and smiled. Selmak returned this look and the two held hands in a jaffa-like embrace.

"How long has it been old friend?" Thalassa asked.

"Too long. You disappeared over ten years ago." Jacob took over and smiled his usual bright-eyed smile.

"I'm Jacob, Selmak's host, nice to meet you." He reached out and hugged Thalassa, a hold she mimicked whole-heartedly.

"Jacob, feel like filling us in?" Jacob stepped back and turned to Jack and the others, still smiling.

"I only know part of it… Thalassa was a high-ranking member of the Tok'ra; she was a brilliant scientist and is responsible for the technology we use to extract Goa'uld symbiotes without harming the host. That is, until she was captured by Baal about a year before the first Abydos mission."

"I too was trying to overthrow Ra. I was pretending to be a minor Goa'uld in Baal's service, but I was discovered. My attempt to escape was unsuccessful and my host was injured beyond my ability to heal quickly enough to escape. So Baal's forces caught up to us and in their zeal to have a Tok'ra prisoner, they took me, leaving my host, Zalei, to die." Thalassa's smile disappeared.

"Zalei was able to make it back to the Tok'ra base and tell us what happened before she died. We tried to mount a rescue mission, but it was too dangerous." Jacob finished.

"Baal placed me into one of his slaves and tortured me for information. When I would not speak, he placed me in a holding tank and I waited there for another chance to escape. Then a human slave came to me not too long ago. He placed his arm in my prison and allowed me to take him as a host, his name was Aryan." Valda gasped at this point, she, Daniel, Sam, and Teal'c had all gathered around to listen.

"Aryan told me all about the Shak'tar resistance and I hid in his body for some time."

"How did you get around Baal and the jaffa without them sensing you?" Thalassa answered this by walking to Teal'c and standing before him. He waited for a moment and then spoke.

"I sense no symbiote within you." He declared, somewhat confused.

"Me neither." Sam added, "You don't have any Naquadah in your blood?" Thalassa shook her head.

"I do indeed have Naquadah in my blood, but there is an isotope that makes it impossible to detect. I only found out about it after I had blended with Aryan. There is a very interesting plant on his home planet…" she turned to Valda who spoke.

"Aryan had a condition, a disease, when he was young and we had to give him medicine for it, a special tea-drink. The medicine-woman said there was something in the plant that would ensure he would never contract the disease again…"

"The tea created an anti-body in Aryan's blood that masks the Naquadah. Thus, I was able to move about freely. It has one side effect; I cannot sense a symbiote in anyone else. But it should be wearing off shortly." She assured them

"This isotope could be a great asset for the Tok'ra." Selmak said. Teal'c nodded.

"Indeed."

"How did you go from Aryan to Halia?" Sam asked.

"When Aryan heard that you had all been captured through the Shak'tar channels, he bid me leave his body so he could switch me with the Goa'uld that was to take over Halia. I took her place…Anat is dead." She added, looking at Zdenek. He nodded and left to tell Oldrich the good news.

"Who's Dathan?" Daniel asked. Thalassa smiled.

"He is my mate." She turned to Selmak, looking concerned. "Is he safe?"

"His host was very old, and he died several years ago. We have been unable to find him a new host, he is with the Tok'ra now." Ronan, who had remained silent until now, looked away, gritting his teeth and staring deeply into the floor. After a moment, he turned back to Thalassa.

"May I speak to her?" He said quietly. Thalassa closed her eyes and her head jerked sideways a little. She took great care to be very gentle when she spoke to him, knowing how much it must trouble him to see Halia like this.

"I am sorry Ronan, but Halia is…reluctant to come forward right now." Ronan's face tightened at this statement.

"Why?" Thalassa closed her eyes and smiled weakly.

"This is very hard for her, she is afraid that blending with me has come between you." Ronan stomped his foot on the ground angrily.

"That's ridiculous!" He moved toward Thalassa and put his hands on her shoulders, looking deep into her eyes as if searching for Halia beneath them. "Halia! You know very well I don't feel any differently, talk to me!" He said, shaking her ever so gently. Thalassa dropped her head and when she lifted it again all the aged, Tok'ra aura had left it.

"I know…" Halia said, her eyes filled with tears and she threw her arms around him, as he did around her. Jacob grabbed Jack and Daniel each by an arm and led them away, Teal'c and Sam followed, leaving Halia to cry on Ronan's shoulder alone.

Chapter 7 – Triens Evado

With the wounded taken care of and Ronan and Halia reunited, Sg-1 went up to the peltac to check on their progress.

"So where are we?" Jacob asked. Oldrich brought up the Al'keshs computer and looked over it.

"We will be leaving hyperspace momentarily. Zdenek, inform the other ships." Zdenek was sitting in the gunner's seat and he nodded to his brother.

"Brace yourselves." Teal'c said. After this comment, the familiar sensation of extreme deceleration came and the ship dropped out of hyperspace.

"Colonel, none of us know the symbols of the Tau'ri, therefore we will send you and your team down with the rings to open the gate." Oldrich said.

"Right. Carter, you wait here, and keep off that leg." He said, pointing to a chair. She sat down dutifully, though reluctantly, but before she could wave them off, the Al'kesh shook and jostled and a loud noise filled their ears.

"Damn! Colonel you're going to have to hurry, they tracked us through hyperspace. The mother ships won't be here for at least ten minutes, but the shields don't work at 100 efficiency while in the atmosphere of this planet and an Al'kesh and three more gliders are coming this way." Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c rushed toward the ring platform and stood back to back on it.

"Start sending people as soon as the gate's on!" Jack yelled as the rings shot up around them. Jacob and Sam ran, and limped, back to the cargo hold and started to put groups together to go down in the rings.

"You two can carry him alright?" Sam directed two jaffa to carry Ren'oc.

"Major Carter! Selmak!" Ronan came rushing over with Halia's hand in his.

"What is it?" Jacob answered. Thalassa spoke.

"I believe I can alter the shields to work at 90 efficiency within the atmosphere, but I will need Major Carter's help." Sam nodded and left with Thalassa. Ronan turned to Jacob.

"What can I do?"

"Get them into groups small enough to fit in the ring transporter."

"This is O'Neill, please respond." Sam had left her radio on the "dashboard" of the Al'kesh. Ronan rushed off to help the others and Jacob grabbed the radio.

"This is Jacob, have you got the gate open? Over." The radio crackled for a moment.

"Affirmative, but we're taking ground fire, suggest you get as close to the gate as possible before dropping refugees. Over."

"Standby Jack. Show me a computer image of the surface, enhance for life forms." Jacob said to Oldrich. He brought up the image, the twenty or so red dots were closing in on the three blue dots that represented Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c.

"Standing by." Jack replied, sounding annoyed; staff fire could be heard in the background.

"Can you hit those jaffa without getting too close to Sg-1?" Jacob asked.

"No, the weaponry on this ship is too powerful." Zdenek said.

"I can." Ronan said, he didn't elaborate. Instead, he ran off to the ring platform and pressed the button on the wall.

"Where's he going?" Jacob asked. Oldrich and Zdenek were staring at each other with bright looks on their faces.

"There is a single glider on board. He intends to use it to destroy the jaffa so that we can continue with the activation." Oldrich answered.

"Opening glider bay doors." Zdenek said.

"Can he even fly one of those things?" Jacob asked skeptically. Oldrich smiled triumphantly.

"Ronan is a fine pilot." They looked back toward the front of the Al'kesh; the computer screen had disappeared and had been replaced by a window-like force field. A glider went flying by it gracefully.

"Jack, we're sending down refugees, and the cavalry's on its way." On the surface, Jack already knew this information. The glider dove on the enemy jaffa, blasting them and the ground around them. Behind it, two other gliders appeared. It dodged their fire, flying into a loop, and dove back down between them. Within seconds, it was all over; their glider had caused the enemies to collide. Jack let out a whoop of glee.

"Who's flying that thing Jacob?" he said through the radio.

"It's Ronan." The radio answered. Jack didn't have time to be surprised. Two groups of refugees appeared on the surface and he had other things to do.

"Teal'c watch our backs!" Teal'c remained behind and laid down cover fire for Daniel and Jack as they ran toward the groups and began to usher them hurriedly through the gate. Jack ordered Daniel to go first and tell General Hammond what was going on. He and several others went.

It took less than ten minutes for everyone to get through the gate to the SGC. Ronan had destroyed the last of Kali's gliders and now busied himself protecting the three cargo ships, which were landing and expelling their crews, from the now two Al'kesh that had arrived.

Jack watched as he wove in and out of them, causing some of their fire to land on each other. But the glory was shortly lived; Ronan took fire to the right wing and his craft plummeted to the ground. The glider didn't explode, but it lost both its wings and rolled several hundred feet before skidding to a stop. Jack waited apprehensively as he waited for Ronan's head to pop up from behind the glider.

"Jack!" Jacob called; he, Thalassa, Sam, Oldrich, and Zdenek had just appeared on the ground. "We set the self destruct on the Al'kesh! We've got to go!"

"Go! We'll be right behind you!"

"We'll hold it open as long as we can sir!" Sam yelled back. Jack nodded.

"Teal'c, let's go get him!" He and Teal'c sprinted off toward the fallen glider just as Ronan appeared, crawling out from under it. He was in a poor state, he was bleeding profusely from the head and both his left arm and leg were bent in a strange position, unmistakably broken.

"Ronan? Can you hear me?" Jack said, snapping his fingers in front of Ronan's face, but he was still in shock.

"He is in need of immediate medical attention O'Neill." Teal'c said.

"Yeah, let's carry him." Staff blasts issued from behind them as they ran lopsidedly toward the gate, Ronan had gone completely unconscious.

"Close the Iris!" Jack yelled as they reached the other side. The solid titanium wall slammed shut behind them and there were a series of loud thumps against it as the jaffa tried to follow them through and never reintegrated.

"Medical team!" Jack gasped. He was quickly running out of breath, and for no apparent reason. Ronan was becoming heavier in his arms and he could barely stand. Teal'c caught them both before they fell and lowered them slowly to the platform.

"Colonel O'Neill has been injured!" Teal'c yelled. This was the last thing Jack heard as the pain in his side increased where the staff blast had hit him, and, like Ronan, he drifted into blissful unconsciousness.

Chapter 8 – Four Happy Endings

"Colonel, can you hear me?" A soft voice echoed for a moment in Jack's ears. He opened his eyes to see Dr. Frasier leaning over him. He nodded and reached down to touch his side.

"Ahh!" he gasped as his hand collided with his wound. Dr. Frasier smiled and pushed his hand back to lie on his chest.

"You need to rest Colonel." She said. "I'll get you something to put you to sleep. And in the meantime, stay put."

"We'll watch him." Daniel said. Jack turned to see him standing by his side, looking concerned. Sam and Teal'c stood on either side of him and General Hammond was standing at the foot of the bed, his arms hung loosely at his sides.

"Good morning Colonel. This was one hell of a mission, and I'll be glad to read all about it in a nice, long report."

"Super sir…" Jack said sarcastically, "Hey, how is everyone?" he asked.

"Well, Dr. Frasier says you're gonna be on your feet no later than two days, and we got everyone through the gate with only a few casualties. Sam's leg is gonna be fine, and Valda has already recovered completely. Oldrich and Zdenek are already proposing an alliance treaty with General Hammond and Jacob has already gotten back from seeing the Tok'ra council. For all accounts, we did a great job, you did a great job." He added as a kind after thought, but Jack was more interested in what he hadn't said.

"What about Ronan?" Daniel just smiled.

"Why don't you ask him?" He said, looking up and across Jack's bed. Ronan and Halia had come over, arm in arm, and stood smiling brightly at him.

"How…?" Jack couldn't finish his question. Ronan, who had looked far worse for the wear than himself, had recovered completely. His head injury was gone without even a hint of a scar, and the fact that he was using both his left arm and leg proved that they were unbroken. When Ronan responded, Jack expected to hear his now familiar English accent, but received a shock when a Goa'ulds deep voice rolled off his tongue.

"When your Dr. Frasier was unable to help Ronan, he agreed to blend with me. I was able to heal his wounds and serve both our needs." He finished, looking at Halia, whose soft expression dominated her face.

"Now we can live twice as long as we would have, together. All four of us…" She added with a smile.

"Thank you for everything Colonel." Ronan said, looking at Halia. The two could not have been happier; their ordeal was finally over. Jack laid his head back on his pillow and sighed.

"General, how long has it been since we left for the mission on P9F-299?"

"Roughly eight days Colonel." Jack sighed again, but this time contentedly. He knew that in the past eight days, Sg-1 had managed to escape Baal's clutches, find their most important ally yet and save countless lives. But Jack was most proud of a single thing they had done. In addition to saving lives, with help, they had saved two remnants of humanity that he cherished the most about the Shak'tar. Love and Freedom.


End file.
